After winning the Indiana Dairy Producers Young Dairy Farmer of the Year Award two years ago, Abbie Herr said her lifelong dream was to present a bottle of milk to the winning driver at the Indy 500. On Sunday, she will realize that dream.
"To have that spotlight not just for the state of Indiana but also the world stage –that is truly a humbling experience," the Kendallville resident said.
To Herr, presenting milk to the winning driver is the perfect combination of her most cherished traditions.
"I grew up on a dairy farm and I have two core memories: Cows and the Indy 500," Herr said as she recalled her youth.
Having grown up near Larwill, she said it was a tradition for her family to watch the race together each year.
As this year's Indy 500 milk woman, Herr looks forward to sharing the memory with her two daughters, Sadie and Alexis.
"I am so pumped. It seems surreal to me to think that I even get this opportunity to represent 700 dairy farm families across the state of Indiana. To just be one of those is truly a humbling experience," she said.
She looks forward to promoting dairy, telling the Herr Dairy Farm story and sharing the experience with her daughters.
"This is my girls' first race, too. I am so excited to have them there, and I hope I inspire them to maybe one day want to be a milk person," she said.
Herr will be the sixth dairy woman presenting milk at the Indy 500. Ashley Stockwell, of Hudson, Ind. will join as the rookie milk person.
"This is only the second time they've had two female dairy farmers hand out the milk, so it's kind of interesting in that aspect to represent the women in agriculture, especially having two daughters of my own," Herr said.
As a mother of two pre-teens, Herr also hopes to earn some "cool points."
While she said representing women in agriculture is significant to her, she puts more importance on being a dairy farmer.
"Coming from a dairy farm family, milk is imp-
ortant to us, and we know it's important to the community and everyone across the world," she said as she listed its nutritional qualities. "I get to be one of the people to represent that part of the dairy farm family."
As the milk presenter, she is working to communicate the importance of the role of dairy farmer to her daughters.
"We are the fourth generation, raising the fifth generation," she said, referring to herself, her husband, Steve, and their two children. "We just hope to instill sustainability. There's a reason we're the fourth generation on this land, because they've taken such good care of it, and we want to be able to pass it on to the fifth, sixth generations."
She also hopes to pass down the values of good animal care to her daughters. She said she loves watching her two children interact with the cattle. Sadie and Alexis are active in farm chores, naming cows and even riding them.
"I love seeing them grow and love and care for the land and animals, especially," she said.
As Herr reflected on the race day, she found a connection between race teams and dairy farmers.
"Our farm and many other farms—we're a lot like the racecar drivers. It takes hard work, determination, dedication, and I feel like in that aspect—we have a pit crew, they have a pit crew-- it's kind of fun to be able to connect dairy farming with the race team," Herr said.
She also noted that the connection between the two began nearly 90 years ago.
"In 1936, when Louis Meyer won his third Indianapolis 500, he asked for the butter milk. And to think that tradition has carried on –that now it's milk that's in the spotlight—I just love being a part of that tradition," she said.
As she checks the milk person goal off her bucket list, Herr turns her sights to new dreams.
"I'm going to continue putting my blood, sweat and tears into the farm because I want to pass it on to my girls," she said.
Herr also plans to get more involved in dairy policy and promotion and is seeking to join a dairy board.
In the meantime, she invites all Hoosiers to join in the Indy 500 festivities.
"I hope that on race day, everybody goes out and grabs a gallon of milk and they help celebrate with the winner," she said. "Winners drink milk!"